Use DRC as an assistant tool in fault isolation of IDDQ failure

Due to the limitation of conventional FA technique, fault isolation of small magnitude IDDQ (Direct Drain Quiescent Current) is still a great challenge. Through a case study of a sleep mode IDDQ failure in a 28nm mobile application IC, by introduction of DRC tools, this paper presents an innovative isolation approach for detection of layout pattern related leakage weak points.